VENTURA COUNTY — In 2018, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office saw a 16 percent decrease in Uniform Crime Reports statistics for Part 1 crimes (Homicide, Rape, Robbery, Aggravated Assault, Burglary, Theft and Arson) compared to 2017. The data reports information from the five contract cities served by the Sheriff’s Office and the unincorporated areas of the county. The Sheriff’s Office provides police services for the cities of Camarillo, Fillmore, Moorpark, Ojai and Thousand Oaks.
The only statistic to increase from 2017 to 2018 was homicides. This was due to the Borderline shooting where 12 people lost their lives at the hand of a lone gunman. The Sheriff’s Office had five reported homicides in 2017, the number rose to 18 in 2018.
Aggravated assaults had a 26 percent decrease, and there was a 24 percent decline in robberies. There were 236 aggravated assaults in 2018, which was down from 317 reported in 2017. Reported robberies fell from 117 in 2017 to 89 in 2018. Overall, violent crime across the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office jurisdictions saw a 21 percent decrease with a total number of 423 incidents, compared to 536 reported incidents in 2017.
Property crimes (Burglary, Theft and Arson) continue to be the most common type of crime reported, and accounted for 89 percent of the reported crimes. In particular, there were 1,578 reported petty thefts and 1,017 reported grand thefts. Although both the reported grand and petty theft numbers dropped from 2017, these crimes account for the greatest percentage of crime within the Sheriff’s jurisdiction.
Grand theft was down 17 percent, and petty theft decreased 13 percent in 2018. Arson had the greatest percentage decrease at 51 percent, with only 17 reported crimes compared to 35 in 2017.
The Sheriff’s Office reminds residents they can help to reduce crime by reporting suspicious behavior or criminal activity by calling 9-1-1 or our non-emergency line at (805) 654-9511. In addition, residents can help reduce theft by locking their vehicles and not leaving any valuables visible inside.
For a copy of the full report go to https://www.venturasheriff.org/public-resources/crime-stats-public-info/.